Daymark Wealth Partners LLC Sells 262 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Daymark Wealth Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 0.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 255,465 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after selling 262 shares during the period. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $11,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 61.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 43,986 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 16,704 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,595,000. Appleton Partners Inc. MA lifted its stake in Verizon Communications by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 9,138 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,468 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Verizon Communications by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 142,348 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,693,000 after acquiring an additional 20,452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seelaus Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Verizon Communications during the 4th quarter worth approximately $211,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VZ. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of Verizon Communications in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $48.50 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Verizon Communications from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Insider Transactions at Verizon Communications

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total transaction of $396,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,500 shares of company stock valued at $938,400. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Verizon Communications Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of Verizon Communications stock opened at $43.82 on Monday. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.59 and a 52-week high of $47.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.44 and a 200-day moving average of $42.28. The stock has a market cap of $184.76 billion, a PE ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.38.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $33.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.31 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 19.80% and a net margin of 12.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.18%. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.52%.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).